Dutch Court orders block on Pirate Bay

A Dutch court has ordered two major ISPs in the Netherlands to block their customers from accessing The Pirate Bay website or face large fines.

The Swedish pirate website has helped millions of people download copyrighted music, movies and computer games. In 2010, a Swedish appeals court upheld the copyright infringement convictions of three men behind the site, but it remains in operation.

The Dutch ISPs Ziggo and XS4ALL had resisted demands by a copyright holders’ organisation to block their subscribers’ access to the site, arguing they should not have to act as censors.

But the Hague District Court said in its written ruling they must do so within 10 working days or face fines of €10,000 per day.